Gert Scholtz

6 years ago · 1 min. reading time · ~100 ·

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The Good Weekend

The Good Weekend

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What do you do on weekends? How do you spend your leisure time?

According to Robert Stebbins, a sociologist from the University of Calgary, leisure falls into two categories: casual and serious. (Serious leisure?) Here is the distinction:

Casual pursuits are short lived, immediately gratifying, mostly passive and includes activities such as watching television, online shopping, and playing video games. They require little mental or physical effort. They cause the brain to release dopamine and give instant gratification. Result: a feel-good that quickly wears off. 

Serious leisure provides more real fulfillment. It is the sense of well-being that is obtained through meaningful and challenging activities that result in personal growth. Such pursuits include sport activities, expanding your hobby, or singing in a choir. Result: a more lasting sense of worthy endeavor and rejuvenation.

Paradoxically, often the better we are at work, the worse we are at spending weekends well. Hard work during the week leaves little energy for engaged activities - rather switch off doing something requiring little effort. 

And we forget to play. Bertrand Russell said in his essay In Praise of Idleness:

“There was formerly a capacity for light-heartedness and play which has been to some extent inhibited by the cult of efficiency. The pleasures of urban populations have become mainly passive; seeing cinemas, watching football matches, listening to the radio, and so on. This results from the fact that their active energies are fully taken up with work; if they had more leisure, they would again enjoy pleasures in which they took an active part.”

The good weekend turns out to be one of oxytocin inducing social activities, deep engagement in hobbies, and play – that activity we last engaged in as children, which is improvised and void of time awareness.

What am I doing this weekend?

I am writing this article which is a hobby, meeting old friends at the athletics track, having a family barbeque on Sunday (colloquially known as a "braai"), and instead of only walking the dogs, this weekend I will also play with them. 

I will skip the Saturday night movie on television. 

But then again, I might well succumb and watch it. 

A little passive pleasure is seriously good, isn’t it?


Comments

Lada 🏡 Prkic

6 years ago #32

First, there is a significant difference between woman's and man's leisure time. A full-time working woman/wife/mom has not much time for leisure on weekends. :) My favourite activities are Sunday walks by the sea and having a Sunday coffee with my friends. Never felt guilty of having passive pleasure. :) Great topic, Gert.

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #31

#35
Savvy Raj Well what can I say but keep dancing the weekend away! Thank you for reading and sharing Savvy.

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #30

#34
Tausif Mundrawala A good book and a good movie - sound like a great weekend to me. Thanks for your attention to the post Tausif.

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #29

#32
Brian McKenzie Your activities actually sound active to me - and riled (revved?) up - so have a good one Brian.

Lisa Vanderburg

6 years ago #28

#30
lol....

Ian Weinberg

6 years ago #27

#29
There's sure to be s second-hand DBS market in Africa ....

Lisa Vanderburg

6 years ago #26

#12
Ya know Ken Boddie! I've been spending my weekend trying to find a home for our cadavers. Mine's done, but my husband's got 'hardware' (DBS for them) in his brain & chest. When I offered him back to the manufacturers, I think they thought I was joking! Best-laid plans and all...

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #25

#21
#22 Harley King What is play? Your description of humor, celebration and creativity, I think is spot on. I hope the cockroach turned into a prince for your daughter :) Thanks Harley.

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #24

#21
#22 Harley King What is play? Your description of humor, celebration and creativity, I think is spot on. I hope the cockroach turned into a prince for your daughter :) Thanks for the friendly words Harley.

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #23

#21
#22 Harley King What is play? Your description of humor, celebration and creativity, I think is spot on. And I hope the cockroach is ok :) Thanks for the friendly words Harley.

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #22

#21
#22 Harley King What is play really? Your description of humor, celebration and creativity, I think is spot on. Thanks for reading and the friendly words Harley.

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #21

#22
#21 Harley King I find that as an adult I understand less of what play really is. Your description of humor, celebration and creativity I think is spot on. Thanks for the friendly words Harvey.

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #20

#20
Irene \ud83d\udc1d Rodriguez Escolar Few activities refresh as the outdoors. And when it's in Spain, it must be the best. I guess I will have to come to Spain for a weekend:) Thanks for your comments Irene.

Irene 🐝 Rodriesco

6 years ago #19

Interesting. Climbing, hiking, excursions to other towns or cities during the weekend is serious leisure. I love outdoor activities. The last time we went to pick up blackberries and go up to caves. Thanks for showing us the concept.

Ken Boddie

6 years ago #18

#17
As honourary secretary, your official invitation to join the Dad Jokes Club is in the mail.

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #17

#6
CityVP \ud83d\udc1d Manjit Now that brilliant name really emphasizes the fun in blogging. From now on, with your permission - I shall once in a while go plogging! Thanks for your detailed comment Manjit.

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #16

#12
Ken Boddie I hope the decluttering goes without too much clattering. Do take the serious decisions at your leisure, lest the weekend leisure become too serious. Thanks Ken and good luck!

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #15

#12
Ken Boddie I hope the decluttering goes without too much clattering. Do take the serious decisions at your leisure, lest the weekend leisure become a too serious affair. Thanks Ken and good luck!

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #14

#7
Proma \ud83d\udc1d Nautiyal Your weekend plan sound great to me Proma - thanks for the comment. And I agree - let's not take a seriously good weekend too seriously:)

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #13

#8
Ian Weinberg That's a very good point Ian. It would be great to read more of your insight into well-being after retirement. Thank you for commenting and if you do as well tomorrow - enjoy the braai.

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #12

#5
Randall Burns Hope the working weekend is going great - I am sure you're cooking up a storm. Thanks for stopping by Randall.

Ken Boddie

6 years ago #11

My nonwork pursuits at the moment, Gert Scholtz, are all involving triage. No I’m not helping out at the ER but am making life or death decisions on moving house and the frustrating art of decluttering. To keep, to donate to charity, or to take to the dump? If you doubt the severity of getting these decisions wrong, then all I can say is you haven’t met my other half. 😰

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #10

Franci\ud83d\udc1dEugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador ope the midweek weekend is good to you too Franci. Thanks for sharing here and on Twitter.

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #9

#2
Lisa Vanderburg I hope the vaguely remembered concept of weekend again becomes a vivid experience. Thanks for reading and sharing.

Gert Scholtz

6 years ago #8

#1
Pascal Derrien By this time the kids stuff is done, and you have your 10k run tomorrow. If my article results in any dopamine - please stop reading:)

Ian Weinberg

6 years ago #7

Wholesome stuff Gert Scholtz Just another angle - a structured and meaningful leisure needs to be cultivated with an eye on that inevitable time of retirement. For without the alternative and sustaining engagement there is the danger of falling into the dark abyss of a potentially fatal existential crisis.

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #6

My work weeks are hectic but I find happiness in working on weekends, too. I love to go on short trips with my family or catch up with old friends, enroll into new courses, or bake. So I guess it is mostly serious leisure. But, I do think that I should include some causal leisure in it, too. It sounds way to serious, right now. Excellent buzz, Gert Scholtz. Enjoyed reading it. Your weekend plan sounds great. Hope you have a nice one.

CityVP Manjit

6 years ago #5

Play as always been a way of life for me and my good fortune to encourage such a life is that as a child I was totally a dreamer. Later in life, I had written a comment once about PLOGS rather than BLOGS i.e. Project Logs rather than Web Logs and Michael Schrage so liked that comment that he sent me his book about innovation through prototyping called "Serious Play". Your use of "Serious Leisure" definitely reminds me my first reaction at unexpectedly receiving this book. For me a week is an interesting idea, but not a week-end. Even today I found means of "play" which were serious play, even though it is not actually "serious leisure". That "gamification" of a work action is a creative act that is combined as a professional action. I stepped away from a work-life that effectively saw my week really end, and I am not vested psychologically into any type of "end". For sure I note "ends" but as I often say, as I write this, this is not written in my "weekend" but on a Friday night, where Friday is noted. It is the complete opposite to TGIF https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlyXNRrsk4A This is why I state the words "Good Fortune" above. As others wish people a "great weekend", I remain perplexed why a couple of days at the end of the week is counted more special than a week. For sure a Saturday is a good time for reflecting on our week, and here there is one thing for me to do - write a "Paradox Wisdom" ! More later once I have written it.

Randall Burns

6 years ago #4

Great Buzz Gert Scholtz Funny in that I'm living an alternative lifestyle where the weekends are the busiest times for me, work related, but I do so enjoy my week off when it rolls around every third week. :-) yes hobbies, activities both casual and serious abound filling my time off to the brim. Back to work for me now, hoping everyone has a great weekend!

Lisa Vanderburg

6 years ago #3

If you're reading this right now (10pm Greenwich), you ain't making the most of it!

Lisa Vanderburg

6 years ago #2

haha...'oxytocin inducing social activities'; I'll drink to that! Apparently, I have asked my husband 4 times today if it's Friday. That's after I called my son to see if they're visiting this weekend; he was at work. Actually, weekends have apparently left my sense of being, but I vaguely remember the concept (even though we were double/triple shifter as restaurateurs). Pascal Derrien; you have to run 10 miles to catch your kids? Way to go dude!!!!! I'm thinking about doing the Camino De Santiago Walk in October for Stem Cell research - lost mine years back :) Great summary Gert Scholtz!

Pascal Derrien

6 years ago #1

a 10 mile race for me on Sunday , kids stuff Saturday and reading your article tonight :-)

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